Last week, the biblical David and Goliath story played out in Delhi – in the legal battleground of National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA), 25 members of the vulnerable tribal group of Dongria Kondhs felled the mighty UK based mining giant: Vedanta PLC with their ‘slingshot’ appeal. They also taught India’s ministry of Environment and Forest a lesson on the Environment Impact Assessment process : for a valid Public Hearing to take place it is essential for a EIA report to be in place. This simple procedure seemed to have been overlooked for whatever reasons by the Government, since the mining project was approved on the basis of the EIA report prepared in 2005 which is two years after the Public Hearing for the project which was held in 2003 !

The company adopted all sorts of dilatory tactics including misleading the Authority by stating that the matter had already been decided by the Supreme Court of India in August 2008 (how the apex court of the country could decide an appeal against a clearance granted nine months later is best known to the respondents !). The case was argued for almost a year before the NEAA passed its order last week on 15.09.2010 suspending the environmental clearance. What carried the case through was a single issue- the EIA report which formed the basis of the Ministry’s decision to grant the clearance was never presented before the public for hearing. The Authority also noted the lack of analysis with regard to ‘human miseries’ in the EIA report.

This was a clear victory for the right to public participation based on full and complete information. Clearly the Dongria Kondhs have succeeded in not only in protecting their sacred hill but in reminding the Indian Government of its commitment to Principle 10 !

Shibani Ghosh shibani.life@gmail.com

P.S the legal case on behalf of the Dongria Kondh was fought by Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) which serves as the TAI Secretariat